Strip 310 -- First Seen: 2009-11-20
Escape From Terra is updated with new pages every Monday through Friday.

QV on a short break

QUANTUM VIVE is taking a break for a few weeks, as we prepare for Part 2 of the Novo Palermo story, and also for a Kickstarter campaign for Part 1, which will start in September.

In the meantime, Not-Safe.Space will continue, as a murder mystery begins and the relationship between Eithne and Diana develops in unexpected directions.

Not-Safe.Space is a NSFW strip but more than half the pages are SFW so I've set those to *not* require a Patreon membership. Readers should be able to follow the story without seeing the NSFW pages. If I've done this right.

Kickstarter successful and closed

The Kickstarter campaign for Not-Safe.Space Chapter 3 concluded successfully on April 21, and Scott extended the time allowed for late pledges until May 19.

Books have been ordered from the printer and Scott will be spending the next week or so setting up and sending the PDF files to those who asked for them.

(There are still six of you who have not responded to the survey asking for e-mail and snail-mail addresses, he'll do the best he can.)

Thanks to all for supporting this Kickstarter!

The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
Establishing shot, Dr. Peña's office. Reggie and Ken Nightingale are seated across Dr. Peña's desk, facing Dr. Peña. Reggie is making his final pitch.

Reggie: If methane clathrates are heated beyond a certain 'tipping point' they release vast amounts of methane in a runaway reaction.

Panel 2
Let's have a medium shot of Peña, listening thoughtfully to Reggie (chin resting on hand or something like that).

Reggie (OP): Methane is an extreme greenhouse gas.

Reggie: It is 25 times more powerful than CO2.

Panel 3
Medium shot of Ken, listening thoughtfully to Reggie.

Reggie: In fact, the Clathrate Gun hypothesis holds that the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event – The Great Dying – was caused by a slight rise in ocean temperature.

Reggie: The unstable methane clathrates on the seabed released massive amounts of methane, triggering a runaway greenhouse effect.

Panel 4
Two-shot of Reggie and Ken. Reggie is looking enthusiastic but Ken looks grim.

Reggie: The global warming killed off more than 96% of all marine life and 70% of terrestrial life.

Ken: If you are somehow trying to cheer us up, you really, really suck at it.

Panel 5
Two-shot of Reggie and Ken but focus is on Reggie. Reggie tones down his enthusiasm a bit.

Reggie: The amount of heat energy needed to destabilize the methane clathrates and water at the South Pole are well within the capabilities of modern nukes.

Reggie: Also, it could be possible to redirect thermal energy to the Polar region as another way to start the destabilization process.
Panel 6
Medium close-up of Ken, who suddenly has a far-away look in his eyes.

Reggie (OP): One way or the other, human action can dump enough greenhouse gases into the Martian atmosphere …

Caption: Their eyes were no longer seeing him.

Panel 7
Medium close-up of Peña, who has a similar expression to Ken's. They are getting it.

Caption: They were seeing a warmer, greener Mars.

Reggie: … to heat up the old girl and pump up her atmosphere.

Caption: A new Martian era was about to dawn.